Really, truly, honestly. I couldn’t possibly try to write up all the beauty products that were my favourite this year, especially when it comes to skincare. SO I’ll make an effort to film a video (!) on my favourites before the quarter ends.

In the mean time click to “read more” and check out the slide show of the products I’ve loved all year round.

This week has been nothing short of exhausting and having to show a LOT of face for work. Amidst such busy times I needed a beauty-set up that would hod up it’s end of the bargain. Helping me put my best face forward were pieces from the likes of Yves Saint Laurent, Givenchy, Guerlain, Maybelline, Dior and Benefit.

{Yves Saint Laurent – Youth Liberator Serum Foundation}

This little number is magic in a bottle for your skin. Combining YSL’s award-winning serum with a luminous, medium-to-full coverage foundation. Topping it all off with a modest SPF 20, I love everything about what this does for my skin short term and long term and I get sooooo many compliments when I wear it!

{Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat No. 2}

Touche Eclat has for years been my favourite product for masking dark discolouration on areas of my face that need illuminating. I recently ran out of this beauty staple but my girl @Beautezine gifted me with my very own engraved version at her BeautezinexYSL event. Woohoo!

{Givenchy Prisme Libre – Loose Powder – in Delicate Beige}

I have been obsessed with this powder. I hate to say it but Givenchy’s Prisme Libre isn’t out in Canada until 2015 BUT you can purchase it online here. I usually hate loose powders but this one reduces shine with the perfect luminous finish. The quad contains 4 shades that work to adjust redness and illuminate your skin tone. No more chalky cheeks!

{The eyes}

This trio has been my eye opening go-to for the week. Maybelline’s new Brow Drama Sculpting Brow Mascara is pretty awesome in adding depth and setting my brows. The only downfall to the product is that you still need to fill your brows in to add a sense of volume — for Gimme Brow I am forever grateful.

Dior’s It Lash Mascara is serious false-lash effect business. Man does it give volume and separate my lashes without my having to work too hard at it. It’s taken first place in a close competition of mascaras for the time being.

Benefit’s they’re Real! Push Up Liner feels like it’s been my first born child. You all know I work for the brand but let me be real (no pun intended) with you for a second. Before this I would avoid liner like the plague simply because It was too much work and I always messed up. With this liner I get it it right every time and it stays on all day. No really, literally, all day.

My only downfall with this God-send is the fact that after using it once, the outer layer of each use after that can be a bit dry. Bound to happen when you’re storing a wet product in a chamber. My solution was just to wipe the top layer sideways on the back of my hand to warm it up. BOOM wet liner ready to go again.

{Cheek popper}

This Limited Edition Terracotta Sun Celebration Palette by Guerlain is such a special item to the geekiest of make up buffs. Featuring two bronzers, a peach blush and a pink blush, the gold middle is a fancy addition. The huge magnetic mirror is a bonus and the main reason I’ve carried it in my purse all week.

{The staple look}

Today I’m wearing it with Julianne’s Nude by L’Oreal Paris for The Exclusives collection but during the week I was wearing a red lip for more drama.

It a brief conversation between girlfriends it became apparent that my “just got home from work” rituals aren’t the norm — am I really the only one? Throw my bag down, get in to my PJs and take my make up off. Whether its 6pm or 10pm…

This week I’m crazy about these new (some old) pieces of my routine. After a wonderful sleepover with Philosophy I was introduced to a few beautifying finds and reunited with step one of my ‘just-got-home’ routine — my Purity Made Simple wipes! The best wipes around, period. They get pretty much all my make up off and tone my skin in one.

{New additions}

You know I love playing with skincare. Introducing Chanel’s Cleansing Water and Philosophy’s Eye Hope. First Impressions after two days of testing? Love the scents and textures. I use the water to get off any left over eye make up and tapping on some Eye Hope to help rid me of my dark circles.

{New moisturizer}

Reaping the benefits of intense moisture I’m also testing out Philosophy’s Hope in a Jar Night and Vichy’s new formula of Aqualia Thermal. I already loved the scent of the original version and luckily this is the same. Stay tuned for more on this and what makes it so great…

{Dark favourites}

Thanks to Philosophy I get good skin and get to rock these comfy PJs from Victoria’s Secret. My boyfriend thinks they’re sexy. Even though they cover almost every inch of my skin. Maybe that’s a score. Maybe he’s trying to tell me something…

{Final spritz}

Finishing the lounge routine with a spritz of Amazing Grace. What a fragrance. Floral blossoms and soft musk – this scent couldn’t get any cleaner and more feminine if it tried. It’s so fresh it’s almost seductive — in a pure and pretty way.

I know most women probably suffer the same fate as me but every so often around that time of month I see a few pimples pop up on my complexion here and there. I’m well past the age of acne breakout outs but when these little critters arrive they usually leave behind a reminder that they were there.

I loathe pimple scarring! I’d rather not cake on the concealer to congest my skin so set out to find a dream team of a skincare routine that would help make them disappear. First order of business. Cleansing. Perturbed by my constant failures of decongesting mask after mask I finally found a detoxifying routine that works. The new Clarisonic Deep Pore Cleansing Clay Mask and Gel Cleanser with the deep pore cleansing brush head is everything and more.

Step one: cleanse your skin using the gel cleanser and Clarisonic

Step two: apply a thin layer of the deep pore cleansing mask and leave on for ten minutes

Step three: wet the brush head and remove the mask using the device

Result? The cleanest, clearest skin you’ll ever have and boy is it immediately noticeable.

{The star serums}

Talking more longterm, dark-spot-like scars are basically post-inflammatory pigmentation and aren’t necessarily permanent damage. That being said, the increased melanin (darker pigmented skin cells) to the surface of your skin are seriously sensitive to the sun and can get darker if you’re not using sun-protection.

Before my sunscreen and day cream I apply Lancome’s Dreamtone Serum which really is a dream when it comes to brightening my overall skintone and evening out my patchy colouring after a rough ride. Tried, tested and approved as the best.

To finish it off with added hydration and repairing properties overnight, I use Palmer’s Skin Therapy Oil For Face orThe Body Shop’s Vitamin E Serum-in Oil. Oils increase the blood circulation to the skin offer more of those fancy white blood cells to help with the healing process of the dead skin cells. It contains ten different types of oils including Argan oil for repairing and hydrating properties, Vitamin E oil for scar healing and Vitamin C oil for brightening.

I had three (to be precise) scars on my left cheek and after a month of trying this set up they’re almost gone.

Don’t forget though…if you don’t wear SPF everyday then you may as well throw these efforts away!

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Welcome! You've stumbled on the space where my passions play on the web.
Consider this site a diary for all things beauty, travel, food and fitness. Arguably with a lot less of the latter but it *does* happen sometimes, I pinky swear.

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